Syrian Social Nationalist Party الحزب السوري القومي الإجتماعي Parti social nationaliste syrien | |
|---|---|
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| Abbreviation | SSNP-L |
| General Secretary | Rabi Banat |
| Founder | Antun Saadeh |
| Founded | 1932 |
| Headquarters | Beirut |
| Newspaper | Al Binaa |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Syncretic[a] |
| National affiliation | March 8 Alliance |
| Syrian counterpart | Syrian Social Nationalist Party |
| Colours | Black,red andwhite |
| Parliament of Lebanon | 0 / 128 |
| Cabinet of Lebanon | 0 / 30 |
| Party flag | |
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| Website | |
| www | |
TheSyrian Social Nationalist Party in Lebanon (SSNP-L)[b] is aSyrian nationalist party operating inLebanon. The Lebanese section of theSyrian Social Nationalist Party advocates subsuming Lebanon into aGreater Syrian nation state spanning theFertile Crescent.[19]
Founded inBeirut in 1932 as a national liberation organization hostile toFrench colonialism, the party played a significant role in Lebanese politics and was involved in attempted coup d'etats in 1949 and 1961 following which it was thoroughly repressed. It was active in theLebanese Civil War, particularly in clashes with the right-wingLebanese Front, resistance against theIsraeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and in theSouth Lebanon conflict from 1985 to 2000 while also continuously supporting theSyrian occupation in Lebanon.
The SSNP-L was founded in Lebanon byAntun Saadeh, aSyrian nationalistphilosopher from the town ofDhour el Shweir. He had emigrated toBrazil in 1919 and was involved in both Arabic-language journalism andSyrian nationalist activity. He returned to Lebanon in 1930 where he was a journalist and German language teacher in theSyrian Protestant College[7]: 43
In November 1932, he secretly established the first nucleus of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, which operated underground for the first three years of its existence.[7] In 1933, it started publishing a monthly journal calledAl-Majalla which was distributed in theAmerican University of Beirut. The articles written in that journal and the speeches given by Saadeh consolidated the ideological basis of the party, and contributed to its popularity.[7]: 43
Its open hostility to colonialism led to six months in prison for creating a clandestine party in 1936.[7] He was also accused in the trial of having been in contact with the fascist movements of Germany and Italy, but the charge was dropped as a letter was addressed from Germany denying any relationships.[7] It is during his months in prison that Saadeh laid down the final ideological foundations of the party inThe Genesis of Nations.
Saadeh emigrated again to Brazil in 1938 and afterwards to Argentina, only to return to Lebanon in 1947 following thecountry's independence from the French in 1943. By that time, the SSNP-L had grown exponentially and had clashed on many occasions with its primary ideological rival, theLebanese nationalistKataeb Party (also known as the "Phalange" or "Phalangists"), which was committed to the notion of Lebanon in its French borders.
The SSNP-L rejected this state of Lebanon on the basis that the borders outlining the newly created states were fictitious, resulting from colonialism, and do not reflect any historical and social realities. The party claimed that theregion of Syria as defined by Saadeh represents the national ideal encompassing the historical people of Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent, bound together by a clearly defined geography and a common historical, social and cultural development path.[20][independent source needed] Furthermore, and with the start of theArab–Israeli conflict in 1948, Saadeh radicalized the party'sAnti-Zionist stance by declaring that "Our struggle with the enemy is not a struggle for borders but for existence".
On 4 July 1949, a year after the declaration of the establishment of the state ofIsrael and the1948 Arab–Israeli War, and as a response to a series of aggressions perpetrated by the Kataeb-backed central government, the SSNP-L attempted its first revolution. Following a violent crackdown by government forces, Saadeh traveled to Damascus to meet withHusni al-Za'im in an attempt to obtain his support, although he was handed over to Lebanese authorities, and executed on July the 8, 1949.[21]
Following the execution of Saadeh and the arrest of its high-ranking leaders, the party remained underground until it started resurfacing with the events that transpired during the 1950–1960 period. With the outbreak of theCold War and the rise ofMarxist andcommunist influences supported by theUSSR, the SSNP-L found itself facing a new ideological adversary, especially that most left-wing movements in the Middle-East rallied aroundGamal Abd El Nasser andArab nationalism.[22] An ideological clash ensued, as Nasser and most left-wing organizations in the Arab world advocated Arab nationalism, the SSNP-L retained its commitment to Syrian nationalism.[citation needed]
The party objected to the declaration of TheUnited Arab Republic between Egypt and Syria, and during theLebanon crisis of 1958, party members sided with the government and then-presidentCamille Chamoun, fighting against the Arab nationalist rebels in northern Lebanon and in Mount Lebanon.[23][citation needed] The party was subsequently legalized.
On the last day of 1961, two SSNP-L members, company commanders in the Lebanese army, led an unsuccessful attempted lightning coup against PresidentFouad Chehab, supported by some 200 civilian SSNP-L members.[24][25] In the scholarly literature, the coup has been explained as stemming from the party's ideological preference for violence ("bullets over ballots"), its frustration at exclusion from the Lebanese state, and both political and military criticism of the rule of Fouad Chehab.[25]
This resulted in a renewed proscription and the imprisonment of many of its leaders.[26] Most of the party's known activists remained in prison or exile until a general amnesty in 1969.[24] In 1969, the party re-aligned towards Arab nationalism.[27]
With the outbreak of theLebanese Civil War in 1975, the SSNP-L militias fought alongside the Arab nationalist and leftist forces allied in theLebanese National Movement (LNM), against thePhalangists and their right-wing allies of theLebanese Front. The SSNP-L conceived the Lebanese Civil War as the inevitable result of the divisions of the Syrian nation into small states such as Lebanon for the benefit offeudal leaders that would further fragment the nation intosectarian parcels and shun away from aliberation war againstIsrael, which the SSNP-L considered vital for the liberation-and-reclamation ofPalestine, later to be known in SSNP-L dialect as "the occupied south of Greater Syria". The SSNP-L found its natural allies to be the Palestinian guerrillas, mainlyFatah and thePFLP as well as its former bitter enemies: the left-wing Arab nationalist movements,the Syrian Ba'ath Party, and thecommunists.[citation needed]
After theIsraeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and subsequent rout of the leftist forces, a number of the leftist organizations regrouped to engage in resistance to the Israeli occupation. Along with theLebanese Communist Party, theCommunist Action Organization, and some smaller leftist groups, the SSNP-L played a prominent role in this. One of the best-known sparks of the resistance was thekilling of two Israeli soldiers in the Wimpy Cafe on west Beirut's centralRue Hamra by party member Khalid Alwan. The party continues to commemorate this date. TheFBI blames them for theassassination ofBachir Gemayel in 1982,[28] the then-newly elected Lebanese President backed by the invading Israelis besieging Beirut.[citation needed]
In 1983, the party joined theLebanese National Salvation Front established to oppose the abortive 17 May accord with Israel signed by Gemayel's brother and successorAmine Gemayel. Some party members were willing to sacrifice their lives throughsuicide attacks in resistance againstIsrael, the first being in 1985.[29] A party memberSana'a Mehaidli, who committed a suicide attack at the age of 16 against an Israeli checkpoint in Lebanon, is considered "the progenitor of all female martyrs for the Palestinian cause".[29]Diego Gambetta says that they can't be considered aterrorist organization because they only act against military targets, and that they should be considered aguerrilla organization.[29]
In 2005, the pro-Syrian and anti-Cedar RevolutionMarch 8 Alliance was formed, led by theFree Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah and including the SSNP-L. During the May2008 conflict in Lebanon, the SSNP-L were aligned with March 8 against theFuture Movement. At least 14 people were killed in the town ofHalba, in theAkkar region of north Lebanon, as about 100 pro-Future Movement gunmen attacked an office of the SSNP-L. 10 of the dead were SSNP-L members, three were government loyalists and one was an Australian citizen of Lebanese descent on vacation in Lebanon, who was trying to get information at the SSNP-L offices about evacuating from the city.[30] The Australian, Fadi Sheikh, reportedly had his hands and feet cut off. In November 2008, SSNP-L members in Beirut attacked (pro-Future Movement)Future TV journalistOmar Harqous, leading to demonstrations by hundreds.[31]
In the2018 Lebanese General Elections the SSNP-L fielded a total of 7 candidates participating in lists with various Lebanese8 March alliance parties including:Hezbollah,Amal and theFree Patriotic Movement, securing two seats in the parliament.[32]The Syrian Nationalist Party couldn't secure a single seat in2022 Lebanese general elections.[33]
The Ideology of the SSNP-L is a mixture ofpan-Syrian nationalism,secularism andeconomic corporatism.
| House of Representatives | ||||||
| Election year | # of overall votes | % of overall vote | # of overall seats won | +/– | Leader | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | ???? (#2) | ??? | 6 / 128 |  6 | ||
| 1996 | ???? (#3) | ??? | 5 / 128 |  1 | ||
| 2000 | ???? (#4) | ??? | 4 / 128 | 1 | ||
| 2005 | ???? (#10) | ??? | 2 / 128 | 2 | ||
| 2009 | ???? (#8) | ??? | 2 / 128 |  | ||
| 2018 | 23,881 (#10) | 1.36% | 3 / 128 | 1 | ||
| 2022 | 11,621 | 0.64% | 0 / 128 | 3 | ||
[The SSNP] greet their leaders with a Hitlerian salute; sing their Arabic anthem, "Greetings to You, Syria," to the strains of "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles"; and throng to the symbol of the red hurricane, a swastika in circular motion.
The SSNP flag, which features a curved swastika called the red hurricane (zawba'a), points to the party's fascistic origins.
(...) during his speech of 1 June 1935 (...) Antun Saadeh declared (...) "(...) The Syrian Social Nationalist Party is neither a Hitlerite nor a Fascist one, but a pure social nationalist one. It is not based on useless imitation, but is the result of an authentic invention. (...)"
It survived and made itself useful during Syria's occupation of Lebanon by relying on its militia, unique ideology, and adopting a politically pragmatic approach that brought the SSNP from the right side of the political spectrum to its current place in the camp of the left.
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